


From Out Beyond Your Star

by AlexRyzlinGold



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-11-30 15:05:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11466090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexRyzlinGold/pseuds/AlexRyzlinGold
Summary: Gems are the first alien race humans have encountered so diplomacy is important. Despite being one of Earth’s best Captains, Yellow still isn’t sure why she’s the one who ends up on the missions with Blue Diamond (a rather important Gem). Captain Yellow slowly learns more about the Gems and their society while also discovering that seemingly everyone she knows is sleeping with a Gem. She's just glad she hasn't managed to insult anyone. Yet. Written for Bellow Week. Human/Alien AU!





	1. Day One: Ships/Windows

Captain Yellow was heading straight to the outer rim of the Milky Way to aid in a distress call from one of the new experimental ships. This new ship was crewed by both humans and gems and had been built at one of the few star bases where both races interacted freely. There were some drawbacks, of course, but thankfully most of them came from the merging of two technologies that weren't fully understood by either side rather than cultural misunderstandings.

 

The Gems were the first alien race that humans had ever encountered, and they were amazingly technologically advanced. It was important that they created a strong alliance.

 

The Gems designed ships that Yellow had mostly heard described as  _ organic _ . The irony of space rocks building more organic ships than actual organic beings did not escape Yellow.

 

The human crew of the Singer had been specially chosen based on a combination of service records, psych evaluations and genetics. Saving those human crew members was of paramount importance to Earth. 

 

Not every human could get Gem implants, and Gem implants were needed to operate Gem technology. Even on a half human ship like the Singer it was needed. They couldn't afford to lose crew. The Gems were working with human scientists to figure out what genes helped a human to accept Gem implants but work was slow. So far only two genes had been found to help, and they weren't a guarantee.

 

Yellow didn't really understand how Gem technology worked. To her it was mostly space rocks doing space magic, which was fine because generally they were pretty nice people. Right now, Yellow didn't need to understand  _ how _ the Gems did all the things they did, just why.

 

Yellow's ship dropped out of light speed and drifted closer to the Singer. The Singer had power, but it was obviously damaged. Captain Yellow had the fastest spaceship in the fleet, so it was no surprise that she was the first to arrive.

 

Yellow stared at the Singer for a few moments before nodding to her yeoman, Saffron. Saffron opened a communications link with the Singer. The screen in front of Yellow stayed blank for a few moments before it suddenly started showing a rather blurred image of a person.

 

There was a distorted voice and a large bang before the image cleared and Yellow could finally see someone.

 

“Captain Yellow!” The other woman greeted cheerfully. “Thank you for responding to our distress call.”

 

“Commander White. Where is the Captain?”

 

A heavy sigh as the Commander settled herself in a seat. She rubbed a hand over her face, leaving a smear of some sort of bright teal liquid across her cheeks. Yellow assumed she had been working in the engine room when the call came through.

 

“In the medical bay. It took me half an hour to get her there.”

 

Commander Pearl White probably would have been written up for insubordination a long time ago if her direct commanding officer wasn't her mother. It was unheard of to have relatives serving on the same ship, but in the case of the Singer, Earth had taken what it could get. Humans that could accept Gem implants were rare. Captain White and Commander White were some of the best the fleet had to offer. Yellow hadn't seen a single ship that Pearl couldn't fix, given enough time.

 

It helped that Pearl already had a Gem implant before being assigned to the Singer. Yellow had advanced quickly through her career only a few steps behind Captain White. She had watched Pearl grow up. She had also watched Pearl run away during her days at the academy and come back with a giant pearl imbedded in her forehead. As far as anyone could tell, she had been the first.

 

She wasn't the last however, and it wasn't uncommon for humans to join Gem ships. Though few got into the Gem military. Most worked on cargo ships or space stations.

 

Saffron had a pearl similar to Pearl’s imbedded in her chest. Yellow knew there was a third woman who served aboard Blue Diamond's ship who shared the same implant. Yellow didn't know the extent of the three women's relationship, and honestly she didn't want to.

 

Yellow had net Cyane several times and she still couldn't tell if Cyane was a Gem or not. Saffron had a slight yellow tint to her that had initially confused Yellow, despite knowing she was human from her military records.

 

“Is everything under control, Commander?”

 

“Oh, everything's fine for the most part. The Captain wanted to try out a few maneuvers and live fire tests. We ended up tussling with a few raiders. Captain White just decided to  _ not  _ take a seat before engaging. We've gotten most of the damage contained too. It's mostly cosmetic, but we will need to dock to fix it. The only serious problem is the hyperdrive. It's misaligned and we'll have to power down to fix it. Which we can't do without back up or else we'd be sitting ducks.”

 

Pearl's eyes lost focus for a second before she looked back to Yellow with a slight smile on her lips.

 

“Blue Diamond has also received our distress call and will be arriving momentarily. I'd suggest we all meet on the Singer. It would be good if you could both see how the crew is working together. I'd love to give you a tour, Captain.”

 

Yellow just nodded and Pearl shut down the communications link.

 

“Looks like we're going to have a tour, yeoman.”

 

Saffron nodded briskly before opening her own communications link and speaking rapidly. Yellow could recognise the language as Gem, but could only make out a handful of words. There was something about the language that was exceptionally hard for human technology to translate. Luckily the Gems were experts at picking up new languages. All of them were fluent in most Earth languages.

 

Through the view screen Yellow saw Blue Diamond's arm ship appear. She didn't think she'd ever get use to spaceships shaped like body parts.

 

“Whenever you're ready, Captain. They have set aside a transporter room for us.”

 

\------

 

By the time Yellow and Saffron transported onto the Singer, Blue Diamond and Cyane were already there.

 

Pearl snapped a salute to Yellow while Saffron performed a different salute to Blue Diamond. Cyane bowed to Yellow, accepting the nod Yellow gave her in response.

 

Yellow had asked Saffron once if she should salute Gems in the manner that Saffron sometimes did. Saffron had given her a weirdly searching look, but in the end had said no.

 

“The only Gem you would perhaps salute like that would be Pink or Blue Diamond, and even then only if you were on Homeworld.”

 

Saffron had then taught Yellow five different greetings for different occasions. Most Earth ships had a Gem specialist on board now, Yellow was just lucky to have one of the best. Saffron had been recruited after she gained her gem implant, and her fantastic work ethic soon saw her advance through the ranks and become Yellow's yeoman.

 

Just because Yellow didn't understand much of the Gem language didn't mean she wanted to be ignorant.

 

Yellow placed her hand against her chest before bowing her head. Blue Diamond did the same.

 

“Captain Yellow, it is so good to see you again.” 

 

Blue Diamond spoke softly but clearly. She was an imposing woman, much taller than Yellow (and that in itself was impressive because Yellow was not short) and almost constantly shrouded in capes and hoods. 

 

Yet Yellow had never felt the need to fear Blue Diamond. She was generally quite lovely to talk to, despite the flirtatious tone and double entendre she often innocently came up with. Yellow figured it had to be a language difficulty in trying to make English fit the Gem language. Yellow always did her best to not embarrass Blue Diamond, and tended to ignore the blunders.

 

They had met before on multiple diplomatic missions and an even higher number of fancy events.

 

“Blue Diamond. It is good to see you again.”

 

A smile twitched at the corner of Blue Diamond's mouth. “Its nice to know you like looking upon me.”

 

“Of course. I must admit, it's nice to see you here. What better show that you care for what the Singer represents than by responding so quickly to their distress call.”

 

Blue Diamond's pout was mostly cast in shadows from her hood.

 

“And here I thought you just enjoyed my company.”

 

“Your company is always enjoyable, Blue Diamond.”

 

Blue Diamond grinned. Pearl shared a look with Saffron and Cyane. The three of them just shook their heads in a combination of wonder, disbelief and amusement. It was possible that Captain Yellow would just never understand that Blue Diamond knew exactly what she was saying.


	2. Day Two: Moon/Colony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Two: Moon/Colony - Yellow didn't know why she was called to this meeting, but at least Blue Diamond would be there.

**Day Two:** Moon/Colony

 

Yellow didn’t know why she kept being called to these sorts of meetings. She was a Captain, not an Admiral. She shouldn’t be at these ‘best course of action for Earth and Gem kind alliance’ meetings. But here she was, in one of the larger meeting rooms in Earth’s capital city.

 

Blue and Pink Diamond were already seated at one end of the large wooden table, each with their own chairs obviously brought down from their spaceships. Gems didn’t have a consistent weight or size. Blue Diamond was the tallest Gem Yellow had ever met, with Pink Diamond coming in at just a few inches shorter than her. Blue Diamond had to be about eight feet tall. Not impossible for a human, but very unlikely. It made Yellow’s almost seven feet feel tiny.

 

Aside from Pink and Blue Diamond however, most Gems seemed to be somewhere between five and a half and seven feet. There were exceptions, of course. Aquamarine, who stood at barely two feet had wings to make up for it, and while most of Blue and Pink Diamond’s guards were larger Gems, there were a few that barely came up to Yellow’s waist. She knew not to underestimate any of them though. Height was one thing, weight was another. Having seen Aquamarine drop out of mid-flight to grab a man around the neck and drag him to the ground, Yellow knew that pretty much all Gems weighed the same amount, despite their sizes. Being dogpiled by a group of Rubies was not a good time.

 

By the time Yellow actually made her way across the room to greet Pink and Blue Diamond everyone had arrived. Captain White and Commander White had swept into the room, drawing most attention. Pearl headed straight to Yellow, greeting her briefly before stealing Saffron away.

 

“Commander.” Nod.

 

“Captain.” Quick salute.

 

By the time Yellow reached Blue Diamond, Cyane had also been whisked away.

 

“Blue Diamond. Pink Diamond.” Yellow said, bowing slightly to each other them.

 

Both of the Diamonds greeted Yellow before Pink Diamond excused herself.

Yellow took a seat next to Blue Diamond. “I’m not sure why exactly I am here.”

 

Blue Diamond winked conspiratorially at Yellow. “They think I’ll be nicer if you’re here.”

 

Yellow rolled her eyes. “It’s almost like they haven't been in meetings with you for the five years. It’s not like you’d disadvantage your whole race because we’re friends.”

 

The fact that Pink and Blue Diamond regularly came to meetings such as these spoke strongly of the nomadic nature of Gems. That their leaders travelled the stars as often as their soldiers told Yellow much about Pink and Blue Diamond.

 

Blue Diamond smiled slightly. “No, I’m afraid no friendship is worth that much.”

 

Yellow narrowed her eyes at Blue Diamond. “Never disadvantage your world for anyone.”

 

“Oh, Captain Yellow. You say the sweetest things.” Blue Diamond said with a chuckle. “I find it dashing how you seek to look after my interests and those of my people.”

 

Before they could speak more the meeting started and Yellow rose to join Captain White and Pearl at the other end of the table.

 

Apparently they had been summoned to discuss the moon, or more specifically, the idea of the Gems building a base on the moon. The whole thing had been blown out of proportion with Earth not wanting to give up the moon, and the Gems having given five other options for some sort of base closer to Earth for convenience sake. Their Alliance was five years old now, and with more and more humans adapting to working with and living with Gems (and vice versa) it wasn’t going to end any time soon.

 

The settled on a Gem run space station that any and all humans were welcome to journey to.

 

Then Blue Diamond invited Captain White, Pearl, Saffron and Yellow to dinner.

 

\------

 

Dinner was a little awkward for Yellow. Pearl, Saffron and Cyane were so involved in catching up with each other than they barely spoke to anyone else, and Captain White spent the whole dinner outrageously flirting with Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond apparently liked the attention however because she had draped herself over Captain White.

 

Blue Diamond smiled over at them. “It’s sweet. I haven’t seen her this happy in quite some time.”

 

“I could say the same about White.” Yellow said softly. “It is nice, to see this side of our races’ alliance. I remember when you first came to Earth. There was so much fear.”

 

Blue Diamond chuckled softly and nodded. “I can understand that. We have not always been a peaceful race and we can come across as intimidating. Though, had I know I’d find you maybe we’d have come sooner.”

 

Yellow ducked her head to hide her blush. “I’d have been younger. Maybe I would have followed Pearl’s example and run away to get implants.”

 

“I’d have made sure you had the best. Something that would compliment your strength, your determination and your loyalty.”

 

“Perhaps,” Yellow said before Blue Diamond could list anymore of her personality traits. “You should just show me.”

 


	3. Day Three: Song/Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Three: Song/Language - Yellow learns more about Gem language and accidentally tells a secret to Blue Diamond

Yellow wasn't stupid. She noticed the differences between the way she would say her few words of Gem compared to how Saffron or Blue Diamond spoke. Certain words, such as names never seemed to be said consistently, but Yellow had trouble trying to understand _why_ the same words sounded different.

 

Yellow had really noticed it at the meeting for the Moon base. The way Blue Diamond said Pink Diamond's name was different from the way Captain White said it, or the way Pearl said it. Even Pink Diamond's personal bodyguard (a very large gem called Jasper) said her name differently than all the other guards. Within the humans at the meeting there wasn't much difference, so it had to be a Gem thing.

 

Yellow and Saffron were in their joint office on base, working through paperwork when Yellow brought the topic up.

 

“Saffron, how is the Gem language different from ours?”

 

Saffron hummed quietly to herself. “How can I describe it? It’s not a purely spoken language. The words themselves only make up a small amount of the meaning, which is why human translators don’t pick it up every well. The closest thing I can relate it to is singing.”

 

“Singing?” Yellow said, actually looking up from her computer.

 

She had certainly never heard anyone singing during meetings.

 

“Gems are very musical, mostly because of a few extra auditory senses that allow them to hear emotion and meaning behind the composition of a sentence. Human translators don’t pick up the noise sometimes because they can only focus on what is actually being said. They often sing to each other during important matters, but speak during others. To humans it just comes across as speech. I think it’s a sound frequency thing.”

 

“Can you understand the song?”

 

Saffron nodded and tapped her gem implant. “Yes, this allows me to hear the meaning behind the words, but while Gems find it almost impossible to lie to each other because of it, I'm sure they would be quite capable to lying to me. It sounds a little like someone is humming, but from the tune you can sort of tell what that Gem is trying to say. Even if what they are saying is different from the humming.”

 

“We're not greatly offending any Gems by not singing, are we?” Yellow asked.

 

Saffron scrunched up her nose. “Uh, yes and no. Take Blue Diamond for example. Blue Diamond isn't her name, it's just how her name is translated into English.”

 

“I assumed it was a title.”

 

“No, not exactly. I mean, it sort of is, but not really. It comes across as more of a nickname.”

 

Yellow looked mortified. “A nickname? Why has nobody been told this?”

 

Saffron rubbed her gem awkwardly. “She kind of likes it. She thinks it's endearing to have a ‘human name’. Pretty much all of the Gems do. There's actually a data stream in Homeworld dedicated to taking Gem’s names and running it through an Earth translator so they can find out their ‘human name’.”

 

“Can you teach me?”

 

Saffron paused for a moment. “I guess so, but you’ll never be able to hear the meaning yourself.”

 

\-------

 

The next time Yellow beamed aboard Blue Diamond’s ship she greeted her properly. Head bowed, hand touching chest and by saying her real name in well-practiced Gem.

 

It wasn’t uncommon for Blue Diamond and Cyane to greet Yellow and Saffron in the warp room (as it was called on a Gem ship) and often with one of Blue Diamond’s constant guards and a few peridots working nearby.

 

After Yellow spoke every Gem froze and glanced at Yellow, even Blue Diamond, who stared at her with a mix of shock and awe.

 

“Did I say something wrong?” Yellow asked Blue Diamond quietly.

 

“Oh!” A grin bloomed across Blue Diamond’s face, bigger than any Yellow had seen before. “No, Captain. Not at all. No, you’re grasp of our language is astounding, is all.”

 

The peridots were staring at various screens, furiously refusing to meet Yellow’s eyes and the tiny amethyst guard was grinning wildly, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Blue Diamond’s grin softened a little bit and she gently cupped Yellow’s cheek.

 

“I’m sure, my dear. Everything is fine.”

 

Blue Diamond kept quiet, refusing to say what Yellow’s brief greeting song had revealed. It wasn’t often that someone formally announced their feelings for you after all.


	4. Day Four: Empire/War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yellow visits Homeworld and finds out more about the Gems history. Also, she kind of a prude when it comes to Pearl.

There had been a huge diplomatic trip to Homeworld once. Admirals, Captains, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors had all gone. There had been a huge dinner with dancing, and singing and Gems showing off shapeshifting abilities. One of Blue Diamond’s guards - the short amethyst - in particular seemed to be quite skilled in the latter. There had been Gems creating fire, ice and electricity, controlling water, flying and creating living holograms. It had all been rather impressive, and celebrated the completion of the Singer.

 

Since then Yellow had visited Homeworld several times. So much so, that Yellow could confidentiality day she knew her way around the palace and the surrounding city.

 

Shortly after the Singer was attacked (or did the attacking if you asked Pearl) Yellow found herself on Homeworld again while repairs were made to the Singer. This time there had been a large dinner but much less fanfare. Yellow had appreciated it much more, and after dinner most of the Singer and Yellow’s ship (the ISS Alto) were left to their own devices while Yellow, Blue Diamond, Saffron, Pearl and Cyane ended up in Blue Diamond’s private library. After a quiet nightcap, Saffron lead Yellow to her room (the same one she has stayed in last time) while Pearl and Cyane went one way and Blue Diamond another.

 

Then there had been Pink Diamond’s fifteenth year anniversary since she was inducted as one of Homeworld’s rulers. There had been annual alliance celebration of which Yellow had been an honoured guest of three of them. Then it was Captain White’s ceremony to become not only a Homeworld citizen, but also officially Pink Diamond’s suitor. Apparently nothing was too small to celebrate on Homeworld. It was this last one, barely a month after Yellow had learnt how to properly say Blue Diamond’s name that she noticed a change.

 

Like every other time, once dinner was over, Blue Diamond led Yellow to her library. Only this time Pearl stayed with her mother and honestly Yellow didn’t except Saffron or Cyane to leave her (though she still refused to try and define Pearl’s relationship, she had watched Pearl grow up after all).

 

They chatted about Yellow’s recent missions, and all the planets they had both explored (though Blue Diamond had explored many, many more). They talked about the city Yellow grew up in and how Blue Diamond used to spend days at a time as a child hiding beneath waterfalls. They talked until the stars were high in the sky and Blue Diamond's voice had almost lulled Yellow to sleep.

 

As they talked the drifted slowly closer together. Until Blue Diamond could press her face into Yellow's shoulder to hide her laugh and Yellow could rest her head in Blue Diamond's lap.

 

“I think,” Blue Diamond said, helping Yellow to her feet. “That it's time to sleep.”

 

Yellow was led out of the library and away from the room she normally stayed in.

 

“This isn't my normal room.”

 

“No, I had it changed.”

 

“Why?”

 

“So it would be closer to mine.” Blue Diamond gestured towards a door further down the hallway.

 

“Why does my room need to be closer to yours?”

 

“So I can be closer to you.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“I …” Blue Diamond's voice wavered ever so slightly. “I wasn't too presumptuous, was I?”

 

Yellow took one of Blue Diamond's hands a squeezed it gently.

 

“No, not at all.”

 

“Well that's a relief.”

 

“I've never done this before.” Yellow said, staring up at Blue Diamond. “I'm not quite sure how to go about it.”

 

“Go about what?”

 

“Kissing someone taller than me.”

 

A grin spread across Blue Diamond's face. “Oh. I think I can help with that.”

 

Yellow tilted her head back as Blue Diamond leant down. Their lips met ever so briefly. Then Yellow's arm wrapped around the back of Blue Diamond's neck and pulled the other woman to her again. She wasn't letting go that easily.

 

\------

 

It was when Yellow woke the next morning and started to make her way towards the dining hall that she noticed the carved wall hangings that spread the full length of the hallway. They were abstract, but Yellow could clearly make out various Gems and other species. There were carvings of planets and weapons and giant beams of light. As Yellow moved further down the hallway, the scenes got busier and more disjointed. They were still obviously battle scenes though and waves of different species fell to large Gem soldiers. It was unlike anything Yellow had ever seen before. Yellow came towards the end and gently ran a hand over a large carving of a diamond shape, spewing forth another beam of light.

 

“My mother.” Blue Diamond said from her doorway, staring sadly at the carvings.

 

Yellow jumped, not having heard Blue Diamond’s door open.

 

“We were a warring race for many, many years. Many lifetimes even. We conquered and enslaved whole planets only to destroy them for resources. Whole races were wiped out.” Tears ran down Blue Diamond’s cheeks. “We were feared. Hated and rightly so. We are why humans never met another alien race. But my mother stopped that. She watched as her mother murdered millions and decided she’d had enough. She killed her own mother in order to stop the bloodshed. She reformed our government, our traditions and our values until we could once again be proud of being Gems.”

 

Blue Diamond moved to stand beside Yellow and touched the large diamond in front of her. “Some of the older Gems didn’t like her new ways, her new thoughts. But she died to protect them and I made sure to enforce them.”

 

Blue Diamond took Yellow’s hand and pulled her further down the hall until they were in front of a carving so obviously meant to be Blue Diamond herself. In front of her were kneeling gems and several shattered gemstones.

 

“My ascension was not easy, nor was it without its deaths. I never gave up on my mother’s ideals though, and I never regretted it. It’s why I was able to meet you after all.”

 

Yellow wiped away the tears still staining Blue Diamond’s cheeks. “It causes you pain, this mural. Why keep it here?”

 

Blue Diamond gestured towards the blank stone even further down the hall. “Your story is not finished yet, but we must still remember. It is here so that every ruler of Homeworld knows our past and where we came from. So that we may never go back to those dark days and so that we can forever appreciate those who fell to help us reach this point.”

 

Blue Diamond sighed. “She would have loved you.”

 

“Who?”

 

“My mother. She would have absolutely adored you.” Blue Diamond ducked to press a kiss to Yellow’s forehead. “You fight with such determination and righteousness. Your people are lucky to have, as are mine. You’ve fought for us as much as you’ve fought for humankind. It hasn’t gone unnoticed and mother would have loved you for it. You are what she wanted Gems to be.”

 

“I … thank you.”

 

Blue Diamond looped her arm though Yellow’s. “Now, that’s quite enough of a heavy topic before breakfast. Pink would chide me to no end for dropping our history on you. Anyway, shall we, my dear?”

 

Yellow nodded, trying hard to hide the blush on her cheeks that Blue Diamond staring lovingly down at her caused.

 

“Of course.”


	5. Day Five: Veil/Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yellow is out of her depth on Homeworld, but learns to love it anyway.

Yellow didn’t often have time to just hang around Homeworld. But after a solid year of never docking the ISS Alto for repairs, and similarly working herself to the bone, Yellow had been forced to take leave. Admittedly, it happened accidentally. Yellow hadn’t meant to work as much as she did, but she hated being bored and having nothing to do. They had only worked together for a relatively short span of five years, but Yellow had quickly learnt to depend on Saffron to tell her when to take a break. Even in these times of peace, Yellow worked herself hard.

 

But Saffron had left the International Space Service in order to work more closely with Homeworld. Her and Pearl were now considered citizens and both worked in Blue and Pink Diamond's palace in human affairs.

 

Captain White had been melodramatically beside herself when Pearl left the ISS. Yellow had heard it all through the grapevine of course and didn't believe a word of it. Despite essentially being married to Pink Diamond, Captain White still kept herself busy on the Singer. Only now she had the very proficient Peridot as her main engineer and one if Blue Diamond's most trusted advisors, Garnet as her second in command.

 

Captain White had turned down an offer of promotion in order to continue as the Singer’s captain. Likewise, the Admiralty Board was lucky Yellow hadn’t accepted her offer of promotion; otherwise she probably would have told them to shove her enforced leave.

 

At least Homeworld offered an interesting change of pace. And it was nice to see Pearl and Saffron again. Honestly, Yellow had never really gotten to know Cyane, but Blue Diamond assured her she cared deeply for both Pearl and Saffron. Plus Captain White seemed to like her, so who was Yellow to judge.

 

Homeworld offered a lot to explore in a month, and Saffron had offered her services as a guide. While Yellow had visited Homeworld plenty, and could find her way around the palace and closest city with ease, she still needed gemtech to access some places. Saffron was the answer to that, but she also showed Yellow to the places on Homeworld that Yellow had never seen before.

 

Like the training area where Blue Diamond's guards worked out. A large group of amethysts (who called themselves the Famethyst for some reason that Yellow could not figure out, it must be a language thing) and an agate who snapped her whip at the amethysts ankles every time the messed up a move. The amethysts didn't seem to take the blue agate's words to heart, often poking their tongues out when the agate scolded their sloppy footwork.

 

Saffron took Yellow to schools, where tiny Gems swarmed around her and asked all sorts of questions about Earth and being human. Some of the children had gems and others didn't. Much like Saffron, those Gems born without a gem would choose their own once their interests grew. Until then they had temporary gem chips grafted to the back of their hands that allowed them to walk around Homeworld without any trouble.

 

Yellow visited a range of museums and galleries and eateries that always insisted the food was free. Saffron would go up and pay for it all regardless once Yellow insisted. Yellow would only find out years later that Saffron hadn't paid for a single thing, but had spent that time explaining to the owners that on Earth even if offered for free it was considered rude to not pay and that Yellow certainly didn't know any better and that she really _shouldn't_ be turning them down.

 

Of course a month off meant that Yellow couldn't wear her uniform, and mufti wasn't something Yellow really had a lot of. Saffron knew that of course and they spent a fair amount of time over the first week getting Yellow a brand new wardrobe. Blue Diamond hadn't exactly understood human clothing styles but she had expressed great interest in a pair of Yellow's thigh high boots. The ones that made the distance between them that much smaller.

 

The best part for Yellow though (aside from Blue Diamond's great appreciation of Yellow's boots) was when she would retire for the night, only to have Blue Diamond knock on her door mere moments later.

 

Sometimes Blue Diamond doesn’t leave until the next morning.

 


	6. Day Six: Tired/Era

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yellow finally gets a gem implant and other sappy things happen.

“So, what sort of gem did you pick out for me?” Yellow asked as she lounged against Blue Diamond’s splayed legs.

 

She was spending another enforced month off on Homeworld. It seemed to happen every year. Yellow only ever took enough annual leave to not look suspicious, but it was nowhere near her actual leave amount. The Admiralty board caught on pretty quickly and it became an annual tradition for Yellow to get an email telling her she was taking leave from date X to date Y. She never really had to sort much out, because as soon as Blue Diamond knew about it she already had a ship ready to pick Yellow up from whatever side of the galaxy she was on. Captain White liked to say Yellow intended to bankrupt the whole ISS with her pay out when she retired.

 

It wasn’t even unusual for humans to visit Homeworld for holidays anymore. In fact, Blue and Pink Diamond had been forced to build hotels and human friendly transport for their suddenly booming tourism industry. Luckily, Gems were incredibly efficient.

 

Yellow and Blue Diamond did both make the effort to visit each other as often as possible, but the life of a ship captain and that of a planet’s ruler didn’t exactly mess well. It was worth the wait though.

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then trust that I have picked out the right gem for you.”

 

Yellow chuckled. “It’s nothing like that. I’m just curious.”

 

“Curiosity is a virtue, but you can wait until tomorrow to find out.” Her hands ran through Yellow’s cropped hair.

 

“It’s not in human culture.”

 

“Pardon?”

“Curiosity is frowned upon in human culture. Well, not curiosity really, but being too curious.”

 

Blue Diamond snorted. “There’s no such thing. Without curiosity no one would ever want to explore the stars, and that would be such a waste. We have so many stories about how the universe used to be, before my ancestors ruined it all. The amount of life and discoveries just waiting for someone to find them.”

 

They spent the rest of the night telling each other myths. Blue Diamond was considered a record keeper for her people and knew so many stories that it frankly amazed Yellow. She could only remember a few myths from taking classics back in high school and several Celtic myths from that time Pearl had gone through a fairy phase and learnt everything she could just to tell everyone she knew about faeries. Blue Diamond delighted in the ancient Greek myth of soulmates, claiming it sounded very similar to their own myth of split fusions. Eventually they fell asleep.

 

\------

 

Yellow wasn’t nervous about getting a gemtech implant. Not exactly. She had done the tests and she was told it would absolutely take. The past few years had been a boom for the gem-human medical field. It was now safer than ever to get the implants and more people could be approved for them. They still had to go through rigorous background checks to see if they would fit in with Gem society (all gem implants came with a pseudo-citizenship to Homeworld), but after that there were very few people who physically couldn’t get the implants.

 

Yellow even had Pearl, Saffron and Captain White to tell her what to expect. And Blue Diamond had been unbelievably supportive. They had first talked about Yellow getting an implant years ago, but it was only now that she felt ready.

 

Yellow wasn’t stupid. She knew what it meant that Pink Diamond had handpicked Captain White’s gem. She knew what it meant that Captain White sported a beautiful (and rather large) clear diamond on her forehead. Now Blue Diamond wanted to pick out her gem implant for her.

 

Yellow wasn’t stupid. So she bought a ring.

 

\------

 

When Yellow woke up from her surgery the first thing she realised was that it was nice not to wake up in a startling white hospital room or medical bay. Instead the room offered light blue walls and dimmed lights.

 

The second thing she noticed was that she was very, very tired.

 

The third thing she noticed was that it felt a little bit like she had something sitting on her chest.

Yellow twitched and finger and let out a light groan. She wasn’t in pain but her limbs felt so stiff and her mouth felt scratchy from the aesthetic. Honestly, right now she could just use a nap.

 

Suddenly Blue Diamond was next to her, leaning over her and grinning wildly.

 

“I can’t wait to show you how different the world is now. I just wish I could experience the world as you once did. It would be so fascinating.”

 

Yellow blinked slowly. It took her a second to realise what Blue Diamond had said. Everything sounded so different. With a little help from Blue Diamond she sat up.

 

Yellow gently peeled back the bandages around her chest (and weirdly that made the weight on her chest feel so much lighter). Sitting between her collarbone and the top of her breasts, dead centre on her chest was a giant yellow diamond. Less tear dropped than Blue Diamond’s gem, rather it was perfectly symmetrical, cut into a diamond shape.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

Yellow ran her fingers over the diamond gently. Her voice cracked when she finally answered.

 

“It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. You picked wonderfully, my dear.”

 

Yellow coughed, sending Blue Diamond into a frenzy of finding her a glass of water and making sure she was comfortable.

 

Yellow looked to her bedside table. Right where she had asked Saffron to leave it was a small velvet covered box. She picked it up and took out the simple golden ring. It bore no gemstone, just a plain band with an inscription delicately engraved inside the band. Yellow took Blue Diamond’s hand and gently slipped the ring on the appropriate finger.

 

“This ring means to me, to humans the same thing that this gem means to you. That we will love each other forever, and be with each other forever. I know what it means to you that I’ve accepted this gem from you, and I want that. So please, accept this ring from me.”

 

Blue Diamond covered her mouth with her free hand as tears started to stream down her face.

 

Yellow’s eyes widened and Blue Diamond only cried more.

 

“You don’t have to say yes, I just wanted to give you…”

 

“Oh you silly, silly woman.” Blue Diamond said with a sob. “I wasn’t saying no.”

 

Then Blue Diamond said Yellow’s name.

 

Yellow froze. “What did you call me?”

 

Blue Diamond repeated herself.

 

“Oh.”

 

Finally, after years, Yellow finally understood what Saffron meant about the humming in gem language. About how the humming had meaning, that could be different from the name.

 

Blue Diamond said her name. But Yellow heard everything else.

  
“ _My love. My heart. I need you. I adore you. You are my world. You are my fusion. You are my soulmate. I am complete with you. I love you, so much._ ”


	7. Free Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  In which ships are attacked, an admiral is annoying and Blue and Pink Diamond don’t care for your sexism one bit! Also known as Yellow learns how pissed off Blue Diamond can get when someone ‘accidentally’ causes Yellow harm. (This is a combination of two prompts two lovely anons gave me for this free day)

The call came when Yellow was asleep in her quarters. Her yeoman (a gangly but tall woman who refused to go by anything other than Skinny) banged on her door with such ferocity that Yellow was sure the ship was under attack.

It wasn't, but Admiral Marty Klein had called for an immediate change in course to deal with a raider situation. Ever since the Singer had proven to be a huge success, ISS ships had been travelling further and further from Earth in routine patrols meant to protect both Earth and Homeworld.

Honestly, Yellow was surprised that Admiral Klein was sending them deeper into Homeworld territory. He had been one of the admirals vehemently opposed to ISS personnel patrolling space not solely controlled by Earth. Then again, in Yellow's experience she was opposed to a lot of things, including the gem imbedded in Yellow's chest. He had briefly tried to get Yellow to leave the ISS, claiming a conflict of interests since she was involved with Blue Diamond. None of the other admirals had listened to him, thankfully.

When the ISS Alto arrived at their destination everything was quiet. Even with less than half an hour of sleep, Yellow found herself on full alert. Their scans didn't pick up the large raider ship that dropped out of light speed a few minutes after they arrived. With one shot the raider ship had destroyed the Alto's main thruster and any chance of running.

Yellow gripped the edge of her captain's chair. “Alternate shield frequency. Somehow I doubt that was a lucky shot. Bring us around and open fire. Aim for the left, about two hundred meters above the bridge. That's where their main power is.”

The Alto rocked as another blast hit it.

“Captain, their shots are completely bypassing our shields.”

“These are raiders.” Yellow snapped. “They shouldn't be able to predict randomly generated shield frequencies! Reroute all power from shields into the weapons.”

“Captain?”

“Our shields sure aren't doing anything! Skinny, send out a distress signal. This was an ambush.”

With some sharp piloting from their helmsman (a short woman who thought no one knew about the gem implant she hid under her shirt) they were able to dodge the next few shots from the raider ship.

Another raider ship appeared next to this first. Thus one was bigger, a dreadnought. Raider dreadnoughts rarely left the small section on the edge if the Milky Way that they had been given.

“We need to get out of here. Ignore light speed, just get us moving with your evasive flying, Helmsman!”

The Alto weaved between the two ships, inadvertently causing a few cases if friendly fire, but soon their luck ran out. A shot from the dreadnaught, catching the Alto's left thruster and causing them to spin into the side if the dreadnaught. It did little to damage it.

Yellow was thrown from her seat, along with the rest of her bridge crew. She heard the sound of something smashing and felt the burn of fire. Yellow pressed a hand to the ground and levered herself up just enough to see another large ship arrived behind the dreadnaught.

With a loud groan, Yellow list conciseness.

\-------  
It was quite weird to feel pain in her gem. Yellow had never felt anything like it before. It was excruciating. The human and the gem doctors that stood above her were arguing.

“We need to get her to Homeworld. I can't fix her gem here!”

“I don't care about her gem. She's got internal blessing and a swelling brain. She needs to be stabilised and we need to put her under for that.”

“With her gem cracked it will think she's trying to reform. It will kill her!”

“Don't be stupid.”

Yellow reached up and ran her fingers across her gem. She felt the rough edge of a crack for only a split second before another hand ripped hers away.

“Don't touch it! And you, I don't care what you think. She's a gem patient and that means I look after her. You have plenty of other people to work on.”

“She's not a gem!”

“Don't be daft. Of course she is.”

\-------  
The next time Yellow woke she wasn't in pain. In fact she didn't feel much of anything. Except the hand curled tightly around hers. Over the past year, Yellow had noticed the pigment of her skin start to change. It had been subtle at first, and still mostly was. But around her gem the skin had changed to a deep yellow colour. Gazing at the blue hand in her own, Yellow realised that it was no longer restricted to the skin around her chest. From her fingertips to just above her wrist, Yellow’s whole hand was golden.

“I almost lost you.” Blue Diamond said quietly. “Thank you for coming back.”

Her head was bowed and her eyes closed. Blue Diamond looked like she hadn’t moved in days.

“You’re welcome.”

Blue Diamond nodded before opening her eyes. She had known Yellow was awake. She had known Yellow would wake. There were certain traits to gems that no one could explain. Ghost code written into the technology that allowed people to be born with gems. Half completed snippets that could identify another gem with ease. Blue Diamond always knew when Yellow woke up. It didn’t matter if it was in a hospital bed or in their bed in the middle of the night after nightmares. Blue Diamond always knew.

Just like Yellow knew when Blue Diamond was having a bad day, or when Pink Diamond was being particularly annoying. Even if there was a galaxy between them. It was how Yellow knew that she was safe before she fell unconscious.

Sometimes, when they were both tired and the night was quiet, Blue Diamond would whisper about soul fusions, and perfect companions.

“We did everything we could for you and your crew. Some of them will not be the same. You will not be the same.”

“How many died?”

“Yellow…”

“How many?”

“Six. Most of the humans were taken back to Earth. Those that we could save were taken with you. We’ve done what we could, but I don’t know if they will thank us for it. I …. I worry you won’t thank me for it.”

“You saved my crew. We would have died out there.”

“But I couldn’t save you.” Tears streamed down Blue Diamond’s cheeks. “Not all of you. Not your hand. Not your eye.”

That explained why everything seemed particularly bright in her left eye.

“It’s okay. I don’t need all of me. I just need you.”

Yellow slowly drifted back to sleep.

\------  
It took a month for Yellow to fully recover and get used to her new hand and eye. Yellow’s new hand looked expertly made. It was only with her left eye, her new eye, that Yellow could see the mechanical joints as they moved. She had been shocked when she first looked in the mirror to see that while one eye had her normal hazel iris, the other had a golden iris with a diamond shaped pupil. The same shaped pupil that Blue Diamond had.

That month had been full of talks and tests.

“Pink is very unhappy.” Blue Diamond said slowly. “You weren’t the only one to get that call. The Singer did too. Captain White was able to escape, but the Singer took some damage before they got away. She sent Homeworld a message straight away. Then she picked up on your distress call. We sent out the Authority.”

The Authority was Blue and Pink Diamond's personal war frigate. It was the gem fleet's mobile command centre. Huge, and nearly impossible to destroy the Authority was also the fastest known ship. It could I easily out pace the ISS Alto, something the ISS had only found out in recent years.

“Earth has detained the admiral who sent both of you there. They charged him with your crew member's deaths and with endangering ISS lives along with threatening the peace between our kinds. We have been asked to add our own charges.” Blue Diamond looked away. “I do not think you would approve of the punishment we asked for.”

Yellow snorted. “No, I don't think I would. Doesn't like mean I wouldn't want the same in your situation though. They won't kill him though. The death sentence has been outlawed on Earth for a long time now.”

Blue Diamond nodded. “I expected as much. Pink will be the one who needs to be convinced. Captain White has decided to retire from the ISS. Pearl is ecstatic.”

“I know. We talked about it. I'm considering it too. Earth has changed. The ISS has changed. I trust you and Pink Diamond to keep Earth's interests in mind while you make decisions. We're not alone in this universe anymore and we need to start acting like it. Besides,” Yellow said with a wry grin. “I'm sure I can find somehow to entertain myself on Homeworld and help humankind and gem kind.”

Blue Diamond cupped Yellow's cheek and rest her forehead on Yellow's.

“Anything you want. I will give you anything. Please, just stay with me. I've already almost lost you once.”

“I will.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A few things to note in this AU, all the gems are a more manageable size. So no giant Diamonds but expect a range from Aquamarine to Jasper/Rose Quartz. Noticeably different from humans at times what with the gems and strangely coloured skin, but not so that they can't function in human society if they wanted. In this story Gems are organic creatures with ‘gems’. These gems are just highly advanced technology that fuses with the organic body and makes them stronger as well as giving them other advantages. Because Gems aren't made by consuming as many resources, Home world hasn't gone out conquering everything they can get their hands on. So expect a lot more lenient Homeworld society. Not a dictatorship, no willy nilly shattering, lots of ladies loving other ladies.


End file.
